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SOUTHERN SCHOOLS NEWS—MARCH, 1963—PAGE 3
TENNESSEE
Supreme Court Sets Hearing On
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NASHVILLE
T h e U.S. Supreme Court has
set March 19 as the date to
bear arguments on pupil-trans
fer provisions in the Davidson
County and Knoxville desegrega
tion pl ans -
Attorney K. Harlan Dodson of Nash-
yjjle counsel for the Davidson County
goard of Education, said he was noti
fied of the hearing date on Feb. 28.
Xhe high tribunal last Oct. 8 agreed
io review the transfer provisions, un
der which any pupil may transfer from
schools where his race is in the minor
ity or if he is assigned to a class pre
dominantly of the other race.
Granting a request by Negro attor
neys, the court called for arguments
on whether the transfer plan deprives
h'egro students of their rights under the
14th Amendment by expressly recog
nizing race as a grounds for transfer
“in circumstances where such transfers
operate to preserve the pre-existing
racially segregated system.”
The court also said it wished to hear
arguments on whether the provisions
restricted Negroes living in the area of
all-Negro schools to attending such
schools while allowing white children
to transfer to other schools solely on
the basis of race.
Memphis and Chattanooga
Dodson said attorneys for the Mem
phis Board of Education and the Chat
tanooga Board of Education also had
received permission to file briefs along
with the Davidson County and Knox
ville school boards.
Attorneys representing the four
boards conferred in Nashville on Feb.
28. They are expected to ask the court
to allow them to divide at least part
of the one hour and 15 minutes allotted
to each side in presenting arguments.
Dodson said the attorneys would be
prepared to present the arguments on
March 19 although the court might not
bear them until the following day.
While the Chattanooga and Memphis
boards of education are not involved
directly in the arguments, both have
similar transfer provisions in their de
segregation plans.
Justice Department
The U. S. Department of Justice also
entered the cases as a “friend of
Jr cour t ” Solicitor General Archibald
ox and four aides presented a brief
mch alleged the transfer provisions
* ere based solely on race, tended to
preserve segregation and were uncon
ditional.
Arguments by the Justice Depart-
o/Ik are ex P ec ted to take 30 minutes
he time allotted to Negro plaintiffs.
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Florida
(Continued From Page 2)
hllv *j scam bi a County, which peace-
hst , ,® segre §ated some of its schools
Hoir the . Rev - W - M - Dobbins > a
bold °f mbbster > ran second in the
^ 0 T2 by an 800-vote margin.
by « Negro making a run-off
W u legislature is Earl Carroll,
®ode p* Part-time teacher in the
his e 0Unt y school system. Making
Ssipj- try Tor public office. Carroll
Pn a against 22 white opponents
4iiis advocating upgrading the
^ all teachers.
^ade County race, Rev.
[ " Graham, Baptist minister
oader Pg ' tbrie Negro community
y Wa fourth although his total
J*Tro]]’ s S considerably higher than
brahaij, ! n another group. Rev.
; °rida \r boar< T chairman of the
^ an 0 T mal and Industrial College
^honai] C ^ Ve TTAACP figure, became
■^-ify a v n °wn when he refused to
.jb're a V NAACP membership rolls
’'hiaittee^te legislative investigating
Familiar Figures
•• *o fajv,-i.
C °Ver _ V ar figures in earher bat-
in tv, 00 , segre gation legislation
electi °n returns. Lead-
1, '®ffs are S f 11 tReir g r °ups but facing
® former R ep . John B. Orr
> w 0n Rep - David Eldredge.
'is for nol-t- Rreedom Foundation’s
■or V stand tlCal . coura ge in 1956 for
V bills j n a gaf n st harsh segrega-
0 s d efeate^ e , following election
Ry T-ldredge, who
y >ssn e aain st Orr on the segre-
°^dit v •
tb at I p]^ e . 1 R)ade County vot-
in th» dred ? e Was tbe second
’’’ Neg r voting in most of the
Precincts.
Nashville Attorney Avon N. Williams
Jr. indicated he will participate in the
arguments for the plaintiffs, along with
Jack Greenberg, counsel for the Na
tional Association for the Advancement
of Colored People.
The Supreme Court’s agreement to
review the transfer plans came after
Negro attorneys appealed rulings by
the U. S. Sixth Circuit Court of Ap
peals at Cincinnati. (SSN, November
and previous.)
Previously Upheld
In decisions in April, 1962, the ap
peals court upheld the transfer pro
visions in the Davidson County plan
(Maxwell et al v. Davidson County
Board of Education) and in the Knox
ville case, (Goss et al v. Knoxville
Board of Education).
The appeals court, however, ordered
the Knoxville board to step up its
grade-a-year plan which began with
the first grade in 1960. As a result of
this order, the board last September
extended biracial classes to both the
third and fourth grades.
Davidson County, which began de
segregation under federal court orders
in 1961, operates biracial classes in the
first six grades—the same grades de
segregated in the Nashville system
which is located in Davidson County.
Nashville and Davidson County soon
will be merged into a new metropoli
tan government.
Chattanooga began desegregation last
September in the first three grades of
six schools, while Memphis is in the
third year of biracial classes.
Williams, who served as attorney for
Negro students in both the Davidson
County and Knoxville cases, said the
appeals court decisions did not agree
with a ruling by the U. S. Fifth Circuit
Court of Appeals which held that simi
lar pupil-transfer provisions in Texas
were unconstitutional. He said the U. S.
Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals also
had struck down a similar transfer plan
in Virginia.
Legal Action
Judge Overrules
Madison County’s
Dismissal Motion
U. S. District Judge Bailey Brown
has overruled a motion by the Madison
County Board of Education that a
school desegregation suit against the
West Tennessee school system be dis
missed.
Sitting at Memphis, the court on Feb.
15 recessed a hearing to allow Jack
Manheim, attorney for the county, more
time to present proof that the school
system should not have been named in
the suit.
In ruling on a temporary injunction
Jan. 19, the court ordered admission
of four additional Negroes to bi-racial
schools in Jackson, which operates a
separate school system in Madison
County.
While the original suit was brought
on behalf of Negro children living in
Jackson, the case later was amended
to include seven Negro students who
reside outside Jackson in the county.
Manheim told the court there was
no case against the county in the origi-
In the Colleges
Tennessee Highlights
Pupil transfer provisions in the
Davidson County and Knoxville de
segregation plans will be reviewed
by the U.S. Supreme Court on
March 19.
A motion by the Madison County
Board of Education that U.S. Dis
trict Court dismiss a school desegre
gation suit was overruled by Judge
Bailey Brown.
U.S. District Judge Marion S.
Boyd has set May 6 as a new date*
for a hearing on separate school de
segregation plans filed by the Mem
phis Board of Education and at
torneys for Negro students.
Appeals by both sides in the
Chattanooga desegregation case were
taken under advisement on Feb. 19
by the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of
Appeals.
University of Chattanooga trustees
on Feb. 26 agreed to admit qualified
Negro graduate students for summer
study beginning this year.
rrr m mmmm * - m
nal suit because no county students
were named as plaintiffs and because
the city and county systems “are en
tirely separate.” He contended the
county plaintiffs could not be added
because “actually no suit existed against
the county.”
The Jackson schools began desegre
gation voluntarily during the 1961-1962
school year and now have 10 Negroes
in biracial classes at three schools. Mad
ison County has no desegregated
schools.
Representing Negro plaitiffs, Nash
ville attorney Avon N. Williams Jr. told
Judge Brown that large numbers of
county students attend Jackson schools
and city students are enrolled in county
schools through an agreement. He said
the agreement provided the basis for
adding the county system as a de
fendant in the suit.
Brown denied a request by Williams
that the court order a desegregation
plan. But he said he would later order
general desegregation of both school
systems.
Hearing Again Postponed
On Plans for Memphis
Hearing on separate school desegre
gation plans by the Memphis Board of
Education and Negro attorneys has been
postponed again by District Judge
Marion S. Boyd at Memphis.
Originally scheduled on Dec. 3, the
hearing was postponed until Feb. 11
because Judge Boyd was selected to sit
as a special judge on the U.S. Sixth
Circuit Court of Appeals.
Jack Petree, attorney for the board
of education, said the judge’s schedule
forced a postponement of the February
hearing. While May 6 was set as the
new date for the hearing, Petree indi
cated he will ask the court for another
time because William D. Galbreath,
president of the board, could not attend
on that date.
The board, under orders by the fed
eral court to accelerate desegregation,
admitted 53 Negro students to seven
previously all-white schools in Sep
tember under a plan which Judge Boyd
Chattanooga College To Accept
Negroes for Summer Sessions
Admission of qualified Negro gradu
ate students for summer study begin
ning this year was approved Feb. 26
by the board of trustees of the Univer
sity of Chattanooga.
Recommended by a special study
committee, a resolution adopted by the
trustees applies only to the summer
sessions.
The move came after rejection last
fall of an offer of $47,000 from the
National Science Foundation for a sum
mer graduate science institute, which
would have required admission of stu
dents without regard to race.
Last September, a Negro girl applied
for admission but was rejected. A
university official indicated, however,
that her application might be considered
later.
★ ★ ★
The Student Cabinet of the Vander
bilt University Divinity School in Nash
ville has released a statement support
ing “the right of the sit-in movement
to follow its present scheme of opera
tion in achieving a more just social
order.”
Representing the Divinity School, the
cabinet stated, however, that “we . .
reject the sit-in movement as a viable
mode of action for the achievement of
legitimate goals in the social structure.”
“Although we deplore the acts of
violence what have occasionally been
precipitated by the sit-in movement,
we recognize that even the most pas
sive actions in the search for justice
do at times call forth such acts from
those who oppose the aims of the
demonstrators,” the statement con
tinued.
The Vanderbilt Student Senate earher
adopted a resolution which denounced
sit-ins as “injurious to the law-abiding
citizens of the community.”
Transfer Provisions
allowed to become effective, pending a
hearing. (SSN, September, 1962.)
Thirteen of the students were enrolled
in biracial classes in 1961 under provi
sions of the State Pupil Assignment
Law. The U.S. Sixth Court of Appeals,
however, has ruled that the assignment
law could not be used as a desegre
gation plan and the U.S. Supreme Court
refused to review that decision.
The board’s proposed plan calls for an
additional grade to be desegregated
each year. It contains no provision for
desegregating faculties.
Negro attorneys filed a plan whereby
all grades and faculties would be de
segregated by 1965.
Chattanooga Appeals
Taken Under Advisements
The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Ap
peals on Feb. 19 took under advisement
appeals by both sides in the Chatta
nooga desegregation case.
Raymond B. Witt Jr., attorney for the
Chattanooga Board of Education, and
Mrs. Constance Baker Motley of New
York and Avon N. Williams Jr. of
Nashville, counsel for Negro students,
presented arguments before the appeals
court.
Questions involved in the appeals
resulted from the U.S. District Court
order under which Chattanooga began
its first biracial classes last September.
(Mapp et al v. Chattanooga Board of
Education, SSN, September, 1962 and
previous.)
The board appealed U.S. District
Judge Frank Wilson’s rejection of a
proposed admissions and transfer plan.
Negro counsel requested the appeals
court to order faculty personnel as
signed on a desegregated basis. Former
U.S. District Judge Leslie R. Darr had
dismissed the plea for a desegregated
faculty during the earlier stages of
litigation prior to his retirement in 1961.
Miscellaneous
High School To Play
Biracial Grid Team
Nashville’s Father Ryan High School
on Feb. 14 signed a two-year football
contract with Flaget High School of
Louisville which plays Negroes on its
varsity squad. Ryan, a Roman Catholic
parochial school, has had no Negro
football players although diocesan
schools are biracial.
The contract will bring Nashville its
first desegregated varsity athletic con
test involving a Nashville Interscholas
tic League team in 1964. It calls for the
Nashville team to play Flaget in Louis
ville on Oct. 18, 1963, with the Louis
ville squad scheduled to come to Nash
ville for a return engagement on the
same date of 1964.
The two schools have met in football
contests for the last two seasons, but
both games were in Louisville.
★ ★ ★
No Scliool-Race Bills
Go Before Legislature
No legislation concerning school de
segregation had been introduced in the
Tennessee Legislature on March 1 as
the assembly ended the eighth week of
the 1963 session.
The assembly’s biennial session is
scheduled to close on March 19.
While the 1957 and 1959 assemblies
passed a series of measures dealing
with desegregation, no bills on the
subject have been proposed since that
time.
Texas
(Continued From Page 2)
used as a “club” over the school board,
which is also defending a state court
case (Kreger v. Board of Trustees,
Georgetown ISD) seeking to stop
spending of a bond issue to build a new
all-Negro school. The litigation is
backed by integrationists.
What They Say
Negro Writer
Urges Closure
Of Prairie View
Louis E. Lomax, Negro writer from
New York, stirred rebuffs from Texas
Negroes with a speech in Dallas charg
ing that “Prairie
View has got to
go . . .”
Prairie View A
&M, a branch of
Texas A&M Col
lege, is the state’s
oldest, best-known
institution for Ne
groes.
Lomax asserted
that “study habits
of students are
abdominable” at
Prairie View; “discipline is poor and
the course of study offered is hardly
designed to produce the kind of young
people we need.”
Dr. E. B. Evans, president of Prairie
View, termed Lomax’s appraisal “an
alarmist’s exaggeration” and said that
the college needs no apology for pro
ducing the type of graduate that the
community needs.
Lomax stated that “many Negro col
leges are disgraceful for a number of
reasons” and that the time is coming
when a school must be able to attract
and educate all races in order to exist.
“I have a 10-year-old son,” he said.
“When I’m ready to send him to col
lege, why should I send him to Prairie
View if I could send him to Rice? I’d
be insane. I don’t mean to send him to
Rice just so he would be with white
students. I want him to get a good
education.”
Lomax said that Atlanta University,
Morehouse, and Fisk are Southern Ne
gro colleges that offer a “good” edu
cation.
★ ★ ★
Texas A&M College was criticized
editorially by The Daily Texan, Uni
versity of Texas campus publication,
for delaying desegregation.
“Perhaps one day the Texas A&M
Board of Directors will be magnani
mous enough to admit students of all
races . . . After all, there have been
foreign students at A&M for several
years . . . and they aren’t even Texas
citizens . .
★ ★ ★
Six Negroes enrolled at Southwest
Texas State College in San Marcos, by
court order. A week later, they told
newspaper reporter Wray Weddell Jr.
they are being treated “fine.” Dormi
tories are still segregated. The Negroes
live at home.
Schoolmen
City View Votes
To Desegregate
City View Independent School Dis
trict, Wichita County, became the 176th
district to desegregate in Texas. It did
so by election on Jan. 29, 1963. No
figure was available on how many Ne
groes are involved.
Austin ISD announced it will admit
Negroes to evening classes, for adults
or others, at a high school previously
limited to white students. A separate
night school is operated by the Negro
high school.
★ ★ ★
The Houston school board called for
investigation of complaints, aired
through the newspapers, that Miller
Junior High School, for Negroes, is
falling into disrepair and is unsanitary.
Health conditions in the cafeteria,
kitchen, and rest rooms were criticized,
among other things.
Houston ISD, with 108,012 white and
40,867 Negro students in average daily
atendance during the 1961-1962 year,
reported nearly 5,000 dropouts. About
40 per cent of these are Negroes, most
ly below the 10th grade.
LOMAX